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Much has been written about the A/W11 Miu Miu and Marc by Marc Jacobs ad campaigns and their under-16yr old stars Hailee Steinfeld and Elle Fanning, but after reading an article in the Evening Standard whinging about their ages, I couldn’t help but think some are missing the point.

If any fashion brand other than these two were to pull a similar trick, I would be whinging too. Because as much as fashion likes to portray the young, beautiful sexy thing, brands would be cursed to forget that the women with the real money and spending power are a little older. Alienating these women by suggesting that your product looks at its best on a girl of age 14 would do your brand no favours.

However, Miu Miu and Marc are different. They can get away with putting little girls in their campaigns because they make clothes for grown women who (perhaps subconsciously) want to dress like little girls. Courtney Love must be one of the original queens of this, and now we see ladies like Leith Clark and Kirsten Dunst rocking the look in a more polished way.

So why do women sometimes feel like dressing up like they are 9 years old? Perhaps dressing young can make some women feel more carefree. I think dressing like this is a way of deliberately trying to not be sexy, and therefore dressing to please ourselves rather than for a man or for our peers. When I occasionally dress in a cute little peter pan collar dresses, with socks and hairclips, I definitely remember what it was like to be so carefree that it wasn’t even necessary to own a purse or a Filofax. (Oh, those were the days!)

My new fashion icon, Tavi, rocks this look fantastically. Except she is 15. But there’s something so considered about the way she dresses, it’s almost ironic. By dressing so very appropriately for her ages, she ends up looking way more mature. Love her!